Suchergebnisse

What does it mean to promote 'transitions to democracy' in the Middle East? How have North American, European and multilateral projects advanced human rights, authoritarian retrenchment or Western domination? This book examines transnational programs in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Yemen, Lebanon, Tunisia, Algeria, the exceptional cases of Palestine and Iraq, and the Arab region at large during two tumultuous decades. To understand the controversial and contradictory effects of political aid, Sheila Carapico analyzes discursive and professional practices in four key subfields: the rule of law, electoral design and monitoring, women's political empowerment and civil society. From the institutional arrangements for extraordinary undertakings such as Saddam Hussein's trial or Palestinian elections to routine templates for national women's machineries or NGO networks, her research explores the paradoxes and jurisdictional disputes confronted by Arab activists for justice, representation and 'non-governmental' agency

Sheila Carapico's book on civic participation in modern Yemen makes an authoritative contribution to the study of political culture in the Arabian peninsula. Relying on in-depth documentary and field research, the author traces the political dynamics of recent years, culminating in Yemeni unification, focuses on efforts to develop the political, economic and social structures of a modern, democratic government. Her wide-ranging analysis of the legal, institutional and financial aspects of state building and of popular dimensions of political liberalization, protest and participation challenge the stereotypical view of conservative Arab Muslim society. The political economy approach to the study which reveals a surprising degree of 'activism in Arabia' also helps to interpret the nature of civil society from a broad theoretical perspective. This is an important book which promises to become the definitive work on twentieth-century Yemen

The conventional Anglophone wisdom about the Middle East is that "they" are mired in timeless, ancient antagonisms and enduring traditions: virtually changeless. Yet during the careers of today's senior scholars, there have been many surprises: the 1979 Iranian revolution, Saddam Hussein's occupation of Kuwait, two Anglo-American invasions of Iraq, the 2010/11 Arab uprisings, subsequent civil wars in Syria, Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere, and plenty of other events. Each upheaval wreaks havoc with research designs. Visas or research permits for holders of foreign passports or stipends can be revoked. Interlocutors or corner grocers may become suspicious. Security agents may follow you around, noting whom you have coffee with. Men, especially, might have their phones or laptops confiscated. A few have been brutalized. Junior scholars must be nimble, flexible, and defensive. A narrowly defined investigation, possibly framed by texts rather than interviews, is not only safe but potentially lucrative. Interpreting "local voices" brings them to "foreign" audiences and encourages dialogue.

What began as a popular uprising against a corrupt dictatorship has been overtaken by a struggle for regional supremacy, with the Middle East's poorest country as sacrificial victim.

In 2011, millions of Yemenis calling themselves the Peaceful Youth joyfully joined the "Arab Spring." Four years later, popular aspirations for social justice and a serious attempt at national dialogue were thwarted by deadly domestic power struggles. When the pro-Saudi, US-supported government fled to Riyadh in April 2015, the Kingdom led a multinational military intervention inside Yemen. By December, daily bombardment had killed thousands of fighters and civilians, injured and displaced hundreds of thousands, and decimated homes and infrastructure. A naval blockade cut off access to fuel, medicine, and food for millions. In addition to this humanitarian catastrophe, the ensuing chaos emboldened al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and led the group ISIS to expand there.Arabia Incognita helps readers understand this tragic misadventure by tracing the Arabian Peninsula's modern history from Yemen's strong anti-imperial movement of the 1960s through the present series of conflicts. The majority of the essays focus on Yemen's colorful and complex internal socio-political dynamics; others draw attention to parallel, often inter-connected disharmonies inside the Gulf's petro-kingdoms; wider regional upheavals and movements; and America's deep, vast and very problematic security involvement in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula. ; https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1230/thumbnail.jpg

This chapter juxtaposes these seemingly two quite different storylines - one about Yemeni aspirations for social justice and better governance and the other about American and Saudi operations undertaken in the name of combating terrorism. The so-called GCC Initiative, and in particular the National Dialogue Conference process playing out as this book goes to press, provides the link between them. From the perspective of domestic politics, the Dialogue can be read as the outcome of agitation by the new generation of 'peaceful youth', as well as an outgrowth of Yemen's tradition of dialogue - an historic effort to resolve crisis through broad negotiation between representatives of various political constituencies. In the context of the 'war on terror', however, the GCC Initiative and even the donor-sponsored Dialogue among political elites can be seen as security-driven or even hegemonic projects on the part of the us and its ally, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

What does it mean to promote "transitions to democracy" in the Middle East? How have North American, European, and multilateral projects advanced human rights, authoritarian retrenchment, or Western domination? This book examines transnational programs in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Yemen, Lebanon, Tunisia, Algeria, the exceptional cases of Palestine and Iraq, and the Arab region at large during two tumultuous decades. To understand the controversial and contradictory effects of political aid, Sheila Carapico analyzes discursive and professional practices in four key subfields: the rule of law, electoral design and monitoring, women's political empowerment, and civil society. From the institutional arrangements for extraordinary undertakings such as Saddam Hussein's trial or Palestinian elections to routine templates for national women's machineries or NGO networks, her research explores the paradoxes and jurisdictional disputes confronted by Arab activists for justice, representation, and "non-governmental" agency. ; https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1146/thumbnail.jpg

In February 2011, Tawakkol Karman stood on a stage outside Sanaa University. A microphone in one hand and the other clenched defiantly above her head, reading from a list of demands, she led tens of thousands of cheering, flag-waving demonstrators in calls for peaceful political change. She was to become not so much the leader as the figurehead of Yemen's uprising. On other days and in other cities, other citizens led the chants: men and women and sometimes, for effect, little children. These mass public performances enacted a veritable civic revolution in a poverty-stricken country where previous activist surges never produced democratic transitions but nonetheless did shape national history. Drawing on the Tunisiari and Egyptian inspirations as well as homegrown protest legacies, in 2011 Yemenis occupied the national commons as never before. Whether or not their aspirations would be met, the country's youth-who are the demographic majority-had animated a public civic renaissance. Women's very public participation was one powerful signifier of seismic sociocultural change.

Late last month, Egyptian security forces raided offices of Egyptian and foreign nongovernmental organizations, confiscating computers, records and funds. Foreign entities included those funded directly from U.S. budgets, the National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute (IRI) and Freedom House, as well as Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Prominent Egyptian human-rights organizations were accused of taking dollars and euros without what military prosecutors deemed proper authorization.

Did western political aid agencies encourage the 25 January uprising with their civil society promotion projects? Did they encourage mass mobilization against the regime, or perhaps tutor dissidents in how to organize grassroots opposition? At the same time as the United States and other NATO powers were providing economic and military assistance to the Egyptian regime, did they also foment popular defiance? Some people seem to think so; different narratives about foreign provocation of Egypt's uprising circulated in Arabic and in English.

With Yemen in upheaval, US pundits have peddled inflated fears about the threat it poses. While it's easy to identify risk factors, circumstances don't spell the kind of chaos Americans most fear, nor do they validate US support for President Ali Abdullah Saleh. His unpopular government has little moral or logistical ground to stand on.